When you begin a new book, chapter 1 really grabs you! It’s exciting, new, inspiring, and fills you with wonder . . . but if you only read and reread chapter 1, it loses something and will soon be none of those things and simply bore and disappoint. You must go on to the next chapters with their new insights and challenges .

It is equally true whether you are the story-teller or the listener. Keep going forward, good disciples! Fear of the unknown . . . giving in to that fear, also means you miss the grace and blessings it holds for you!

The new guidelines for ADHD now recommend that doctors evaluate children beginning at age four! Yes, that right. The American Academy of Pediatrics has just released its expanded guidelines.

Penny, grandmother of a seven year old with ADHD says, “I sure wish this recommendation had happened years ago so that we’d have been able to get treatment a lot sooner for my granddaughter.” Her granddaughter does very well in school now that her ADHD has been diagnosed, but prior to her diagnosis to say she struggled is an understatement. Her family knew something was wrong. Her teacher knew something was wrong. What a blessing the eventual diagnosis was since it meant proper treatment!

The “old rules” had doctors evaluate all children between age 6 and 12 for signs of ADHD, but this new change has expanded that to include all children from age 4 through 18. This change has come about for many reasons including:

Behavior problems can show up sooner

Over activity can show up sooner

Trouble paying attention can show up sooner

ADHD continues into adolescence

ADHS has been shown to persist into adulthood

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rates of diagnosis are higher among adolescents than younger kids. Their data reveals that from 6 – 9 percent of kids have ADHD. “I’m glad to see the guidelines now recognize ADHD can occur both in younger children and older adolescents as well,” said Aude Henin, from Massachusetts General Hospital’s Child Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Program. “I think those are things that have been ignored in the past.” There are signs parents and teachers can look for in considering if a child or teen may have ADHD, including:

Dawdling

Short attention span

Difficulties following directions

Fidgeting

Impulsive

Excessive need for movement

Noisy

It’s important for parents and teachers to be actively involved in observing the child’s behavior as the symptoms may not show during a brief visit to the pediatrician. It is also important for parents to be educated as to how they can contribute to the treatment of the child with ADHD, especially in those children who are diagnosed at a very young age. Teachers of such children should also be aware and be prepared to react appropriately. Depending on the severity of the problem, very young children can sometimes be treated through behavior modification alone rather than medicine. In more severe cases medicine as well as behavior modification may be necessary. As with most medicines, parents will need to watch for side effects of the medicine prescribed.

ADHD can persist for a long time. It’s important for parents, teachers, and doctors to work closely together in treating this condition.

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
William Butler Yeats

“So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.” Luke 20:20-22 Jesus taught the twelve many things, yet it wasn’t enough, was it? When He left them, they locked themselves in a room and were full of fear. He said He would be with them always. But how?

“They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”Acts 2:2-4 Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to fill them, guard them, and guide them – and us – and thus yes, the Teacher is with us always. How appropriate, therefore, is the quote from Yeats which speaks of education as the “lighting of a fire.”

Fire is defined in many ways. We often think of it as a destructive force. It means so much more than that. Jesus knew this. Yeats did. If we think about it, so do we. The word fire also means to be inflamed with passion, or to be spirited. Spirited. That’s what happened to the disciples that day. It’s what can happen to us. We can be “spirited” by inviting the Lord to fill us with His Holy Spirit and by surrendering our life to Him. Scary? Maybe. But let’s think about it a little.

Jesus chose twelve men to be His “students” and spent three years teaching them His Father’s ways, His ways. Three years to change them into a team that will change the world? How can they have possibly learned enough in three years? Could they have learned enough in thirty or even in three hundred years? Likely not. Yet, He commissioned them to continue His good work. To quote the Book of Common Prayer “the good work which he has begun in you.” He, Jesus, wanted them and today wants us to continue His good work. Again, the question is how?

How were a small group of society’s misfits who Jesus chose to walk the dry and dusty roads with Him to have spread His message? How are we, in our brokenness to continue this today in our complex society full of darkness and despair? We can’t. But, by giving ourselves to Him, we can be filled with the Holy Spirit. We can indeed experience what the disciples did. The tongues of fire which went from head to head back then can inflame us as well! We are not limited by what our minds hold. We can live by what our heart and soul contains and if we invite the Lord to take us over and make us over and to live in us and through us, His Holy Spirit can and will inflame us, inspire us, and through Him, the fire can and will spread far and wide! Come Holy Spirit!

My most recently published article on Technorati tells of a non-profit organization which is composed of many volunteers who spend some 60 hours a week in prison empowering and educating women, leading them in new directions so that they can turn their lives around upon re-entry into their communities and their personal lives with family and friends.

“What would Jesus do?” has become a cliché in our culture, but I must say that the answer to that question related to this prison program, is a resounding “this is EXACTLY what Jesus would do!”

To read about this program and the great effect it is having in changing lives, click: